Legal Options with Encroachment

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You can read my post in the Land thread (last one): "When buying land,what purpose will a survey serve"

Well the encroacher who wouldn't pay for a survey went out and got himself a $650 per hour lawyer who has come back pounding his fist on the table screaming "adverse possession".

This is really funny since in FL to claim adverse possession you must meet 4 criteria and the encroacher has met only one....the open and hostile encroachment of a house addition, a septic, and a fence.

The seller lives out of state and just wants to get this property sold. It was on the market for several years. We have a verbal agreement with the seller that we would allow a bumpout for the footprint of the house and a five foot easement around the structure, but that all other encroachments must be moved.

The seller had to get an attorney. We met with this attorney who without factual knowledge on the case was trotting down the same road as the high priced lawyer and was telling us, in a threatening and intimidating manner, what they were going to do...

We called the seller, who was not happy that his lawyer ignored his direction. I have a feeling though that the seller is going to get screwed by these good ole FL boy lawyers who obviously have something going on. In that the seller will be told to sell the encroachers the property (at a real cheap price) to get the deal to move forward or else the Pricey Laywer will keep him tied up in court.

Unfortunately, this will hurt the value of the property and our being able to have full use of it (because of laws on reparian rights).

The Lawyers are so obviously in cohoots and openly hostile I would like to know what rights and options we have. Do we too need to get ANOTHER lawyer involved to protect our interests?

-- BC (Katnip364@aol.com), February 27, 2002

Answers

Yes.

-- Rick#7 (rick7@postmark.net), February 27, 2002.

And if you are really unhappy with your lawyer and have spent a lot of money, also look at the nolo press www.nolo.com and see their book on how to sue the lawyer, should it come to that. It may also be in your library.

Or, hard as it may seem, walk away from the deal. They sound like awful neighbors as well.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 27, 2002.


Experience has taught me that the only one that wins in a lawsuit is the lawyers. Have all the specfic facts written down: not wishes or insults. Most people are reasonable and will work out a situation. If your time and sanitaty are worth anything to you, try to work out an agreement with the other party even it is not totally what is correct in your opinion. THIS IS NOT PROFESSIONAL OR LEGAL ADVICE!

-- ken (you@surfbest.net), February 27, 2002.

Have to agree with GT that you might be getting a bad neighbor IF you ever get this all worked out. Read some of the bad neighbor stories in the archives. Figure into the price of your land all future headaches when dealing with this person and see if it is still a good buy. Best of luck!

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), February 27, 2002.

The problem as I see it is that the owner is not here and has seemingly not done his homework in finding a good attorney. He just wants to sell the land and be done with it and the person holding the bag looks to be YOU.

This kind of problem can and does happen in every state of the Union, not just here in Florida. If I were you I wouldn't touch this deal until the seller can show you clean and clear title to what you originally agreed to buy taking into account what has been lost off of the property by the neighbor's actions - he owes somebody for those trees. Even then I'd have to think a long time whether I wanted this fellow for a neighboring land owner.

........Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), February 27, 2002.



Unfortunately bad things can happen when you use a lawyer. If you can prove, or even are very certain about their behavior being not up to community standards report them both to the Florida State Bar Association. You can file a complaint against any lawyer who is doing something illegal, unethical, or immoral. I know this for a fact. I am doing it to a former lawyer of mine who dragged out a workers comp case well beyond reason.

While this may not help you out in the moment, it may help steer someone else away from an unsavory attorney. We have to help each other in order to survive and thrive. File the complaint.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), February 27, 2002.


Rick, you answered YES...what could a lawyer do for us? Specific performance on the seller? What Other options?

Yes, we are seriously considering the "quality" of these neighbors. Folks in the community keep saying..."they are such nice people"...

I tell them so are successful con artists.

These encroachers are not STUPID...they are smart like foxes. I have already uncovered false applications and dummied up warranty deeds they have done to get past the DEP and the county planning departments.

-- BC (katnip364@aol.com), February 27, 2002.


Avoid lawyers at all costs! If you decide to take the sensible course though, you might consider the following solution:

The trick is to find an inexperienced young attorney, pay a small retainer, and lose.

Then retain an experienced layer on a contingency basis, sue the inexperienced attorney for professional negligence, win, and use the winnings to pay the judgement which had been made against you.

Have the experienced lawyer's fees assessed based on the contingency being out of line with the services provided, given the inexperience of the young lawyer. This will leave you owing only a few grand rather than a large sum.

The experienced lawyer will obtain a judgment against you for the remaining fees, and will attempt to serve you with a variety of documents. Don't worry. Just train your children to answer the door with "Go away you pervert" and take copious notes. By the time the experienced lawyer is able to squeeze some money out of you, you will have a juicy harassment case which a lawyer wanting public exposure will take on for free for you.

As long as you remember to include a publication and production clause in your retainer with this third lawyer, you will not only be represented for free, but you will receive a pretty penny for the book and movie rights.

-- Tis I (really_tis_i@yahoo.com), February 27, 2002.


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